100,000 Serbs Take to Streets Against Milosevic

By CHRIS HEDGES

Published: November 26, 1996

Correction Appended

BELGRADE, Serbia, Nov. 25—
More than 100,000 jeering demonstrators hurled eggs at the state-run television headquarters, blocked city streets for more than eight hours and roared their approval when opposition leaders vowed to shut Belgrade down until the Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic, was removed from power.

The largest anti-Government demonstration here in five years was staged to denounce a decision to invalidate opposition election victories in 33 local council seats because of unspecified ''irregularities.''

Leaders of the opposition coalition, Zajedno, called on their followers tonight to carry out the kind of sustained daily street gatherings that began in Prague in 1989 and eventually brought down the Communist Government there.

If the protests, which are also taking place in other cities, continue, the oppositon could force President Milosevic to use force to clear city streets, Western diplomats said. That would sharply step up -- or abruptly end -- the growing confrontation with the Government.

But either way, if Mr. Milosevic resorts to violence, his effort to rehabilitate his image with the United States and Europe is likely to suffer serious damage.

He began that campaign by accepting the role of representing the Bosnian Serbs at the Dayton peace negotiations last year and lending his support to the accord that was reached. Because of his assistance, especially in the latter part of the war, the Clinton Administration has been reluctant to challenge him.

But his own people have shown no such reticence. ''The mood in the streets is very angry, very hostile,'' said Zoran Ziukovic, a leader of the opposition. ''We are going through what Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Poland went through six years ago.

''In those countries the fall of the Soviet Union saw the collapse of the Communist system. In Yugoslavia we hung on because Milosevic astutely switched from Communist to nationalist rhetoric. Now he is being unmasked, not only because of these elections, but because of empty stomachs. It only remains now to see what kind of a revolution this will become.''

There were some signs that the protests were spreading, especially when students decided to take over university buildings. But the Government, which has barred the state-run press from covering the demonstrations, said the protests would not interfere with plans to press ahead with a final round of local voting, which the opposition plans to boycott, on Wednesday.

The protests are the largest since 1991, when Mr. Milosevic announced his decision to go to war against republics seceding from Yugoslavia.

Now, Mr. Milosevic dominates what remains of Yugoslavia -- Serbia and tiny Montenegro. Mr. Milosevic's reputation for autocratic rule, culminating in his flagrant dismissal of the opposition victory, has proved too much for many people.

The state-run press has the difficult job of trying to dismiss the protests as insignificant and yet present them as jeopardizing law and order. The press quoted Ivan Markovic, the editor of Radio Yugoslavia, who attacked the protesters for fomenting ''disorder, aggression and terrorism.''

Although tens of thousands of protesters trapped television reporters and editors inside their offices for hours this afternoon as eggs splattered against the windows, the event was never mentioned on the air.

Many in the opposition say the President, who has presided over a deteriorating economy and turned his country, for the duration of the war, into an international pariah, may have gone too far.

''The decision to steal the local elections was the final straw for many Serbs,'' said Zoran Djindjic, one of the opposition leaders, as he prepared to move onto a balcony overlooking tens of thousands of boisterous supporters. ''The regime pushed too far. There were many who were prepared to let Milosevic keep power for himself but hoped that the opposition would take control in some of the cities.

''His decision to discard the fig leaf of elections that helped cloak his dictatorship may prove to be his biggest mistake. Now we know that removing him by democratic methods will be impossible.''

The crowd, which included large numbers of students and retired people, was spirited and often boisterous to the point of making lewd suggestions directed at the President. Many waved Serbian flags, blew whistles and sang.

Mr. Djindjic told the crowd: ''This is no longer an election rally or a protest rally. This is a democratic revolution that Serbia has been waiting 50 years for.''

The crowd, in response, chanted: ''Serbia has risen! Serbia has risen!''

''Milosevic cannot fool anyone now,'' said Miroslava Mandic, 36, a bank employee who stood in a crush of people near the television building. ''He has cheated us once too often.''

When the polling ended eight days ago, Mr. Milosevic's Socialist Party conceded that it had lost control of the city councils in industrial cities and towns across Serbia, including Belgrade. But the Government-run electoral commissions appointed by the President swiftly annulled the results in almost all of the districts won by the opposition bloc.

Few expect the President to go down without a fight. When confronted with citywide protests in 1991, he called out tanks to secure Belgrade's streets. The deployment resulted in at least two deaths. Opposition leaders hinted darkly today that the crowds might have to be ready to confront violence.

Photo: Demonstrators waving report cards to prove that they are students rather than political agitators marched through Belgrade protesting an election ruling that invalidated opposition victories in 33 local council races. (Associated Press)

Correction: November 29, 1996, Friday An article on Tuesday about anti-Government protests in Serbia misstated President Slobodan Milosevic's public stance on the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia in 1991. Although Serbia was instrumental in the Yugoslav military response to the secession of Croatia and Slovenia, Mr. Milosevic never formally announced a decision to go to war to oppose the breakup.